Belgrade hosts EHF Executive meeting

The members of the EHF Executive Committee travelled to Belgrade, Serbia on 14 December 2013, for their 117th meeting, a familiar venue to the 11 members of the committee given that Serbia hosted both the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO events in 2012.

In addition to reports from the EHF technical committees, a financial update and information on the EHF Marketing GmbH General Assembly, which took place ahead of the meeting, the EHF Executive dealt with a range of wide range issues.

CLUB COMPETITIONS

New system in VELUX EHF Champions League

Following the changes announced at the beginning of the season in the Women’s EHF Champions League, the EHF has been examining changes to the playing system of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

Having been analysed on a technical and marketing level, a number of options were presented to the Professional Handball Board at its last meeting on 5 December 2013 in Vienna.

However given the diverging opinions of the various stakeholders, which includes professional clubs and leagues, no clear proposal could be put forward to the EHF Executive.

Two options for the future will be further analysed and discussions with all stakeholders will continue. The revised proposals will be presented again at the next EHF Executive Committee meeting.

If not for the 2014/15 season, changes to the playing system in the VELUX EHF Champions League could be introduced from the start of the 2015/16 season.

New place allocation system in Europe’s top competitions

The ranking system for the 2014/15 season and system for the allocation of places to national federations for EHF club competitions was discussed and agreed.

VELUX EHF Champions League - In the men’s competition, the top two ranked nations, Germany and Spain, were allocated two automatic places each in the VELUX EHF Champions League.

All other nations ranked 3-27 will receive one place only each.

National federations can apply for an additional place, or a place in the competition if outside of the top 27-ranked nations.

Additional places will be allocated on the basis of a criteria and set of standards for the competition by March 2014.

Teams from nations ranked 1-12 will be granted an automatic place in the Group Phase without the need to play in qualification rounds.

Women’s EHF Champions League - In the women’s competition the top two best ranked nations, Hungary and Denmark, were allocated two places each in the Women’s EHF Champions League.

Nations ranked from 3-24 will receive one place each. Additional places may be allocated as in the men’s competition. Again nations ranked 1-12 will qualify automatically for the Group Phase.

Women’s EHF FINAL4 teams to compete for more money

Following the announcement that the Women’s EHF Champions League will be played with a final tournament, the Women’s EHF FINAL4 in Budapest, Hungary on 3/4 May 2014, the EHF has now announced additional financial distribution for the teams taking part in the final event.

Each team playing in the Women’s EHF FINAL4 will receive 75,000€, with the teams placed first to fourth to be allocated an additional 150,000€, 100,000€, 50,000€ and 10,000€ respectively.

VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne to 2016

The Executive gave the green light to an extension of the contract with the City of Cologne and LANXESS arena for the organisation of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 for a further two years and until 2016.

NATIONAL TEAM COMPETITIONS

EHF EURO 2018 and 2020 bids confirmed

At the EHF Congress in Dublin, Ireland on 19/20 September 2014, the member federations will vote on which nations will organise the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO 2018 and 2020.

The EHF Executive has now confirmed that six nations will go forward to the next stage of the bidding process:

EHF EURO 2018 Men

Croatia, Norway, Norway/Sweden, Sweden

EHF EURO 2018 Women

France, Norway

EHF EURO 2020 Men

Austria, Norway, Norway/Sweden, Sweden

EHF EURO 2020 Women

Norway, Norway/Denmark

Parallel to the evaluation of bids and inspections, the EHF will carry out a dialogue with bidding nations to further define the bids.

Nations with multiple bids for the same event will be required to narrow down their bid to one candidature per event.

EHF EURO in the future

The EHF Executive Committee was presented with a report on the future of the EHF EURO Events, produced as a result of the work of the EHF EURO Task Force, which held its last meeting in September 2013.

The idea of enlarging the Men’s EHF EURO to 24 teams by the latest 2022 was agreed, as was the need for additional measures to maximise the number of teams playing in qualification

The playing structure will also be optimised in the future, with the preliminary rounds played in six groupd of four teams in three countries to maximise the presentation and exposure of the championship.

The project ‘EHF EUROs in the future’ will be presented in more detail to the EHF Congress in September 2014 in Ireland.

Addtional rest day at EHF EUROs planned

The EHF Executive agreed that the current 16-team playing system of the EHF EUROs would be amended in the future, with an additional rest day to be added to the main round phase.

Contact will follow with current and potential organisers of the EHF's top national team events.

Upcoming EHF EURO Events

Status reports were received for the upcoming EHF EURO Events. These include the Men's EHF EURO taking place in Denmark from 12-26 January, the Women's EHF EURO in Hungary and Croatia 7-21 December 2014 and also the first reports on meetings with the Polish organisers of EHF EURO 2016.

Women 19 EHF European Championship in 2015

Following satisfactory inspections, Spain has been allocated with the right to organise the 2015 edition of the Women’s 19 EHF EURO. The event will take place in Valencia from 23 July to 2 August 2015.

Women’s Challenge Trophy

A decision was made on the participants in the IHF/EHF Women’s Challenge Trophy set to take place 26-30 March 2014 in the city of Larisa, northern Greece.

11 national federations had applied to take part and the capacity of the event is a maximum of eight teams. The national teams of Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Israel, Latvia and Moldova will now take part in the event.

Additional support for those teams not chosen to take part in the event is to be considered.

BEACH HANDBALL

Champions Cup confirmed

The organiser and venue for the first ‘Champions Cup’ in beach handball was confirmed.

Taking place on 1/2 November 2014, the event will take place on Gran Canaria and be played with eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams.

EBT Finals 2014

Avant Garde Beach Handball was confirmed as organiser of the 2014 European Beach Tour (ebt) Finals. The event to be held on 31 May and 1 June 2014 will be played at Irini’s Village (close to Thessaloniki).

Trial contract extended

An extension to the contract between the EHF and Trial for the supply of beach handbal materials was approved.

ADDITIONAL

Club manager education

A proposal from the EHF Competence Academy and Network to extend the programme it offers for the education of club managers was accepted.

A new system of blended learning, both online and through a seminar to be organised parallel to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne in 2014 was presented.

Women’s Handball Board

A new strategy under the title of ‘Reaching higher – together!’ was presented by Lidija Bojic-Cacic, chair of the Women’s Handball Board and agreed in principle by the EHF Executive.

Aiming at strengthening and further developing women’s handball in Europe, the strategy covers the promotion of women’s handball through to 2018.

The strategy covers key areas such as enhancing the image of the sport, strengthening core competitions such as the EHF EUROs and EHF Champions League and improving the status of women’s handball in emerging nations.

Scotland awarded ISP funding

A request from Scotland for an extension of their Infrastucture Support Programme (ISP) funding for the period 2014-16 was agreed by the EHF Executive.

Next meeting

The EHF Executive Committee will meet next on 25 January 2014 in Herning, Denmark during EHF EURO 2014.